PARIS: Several French Parliamentarians and political leaders have admitted the negative campaign of the European Union on Malaysian palm oil is unfounded, says Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail.
The views were expressed by members of Parliament and politicians of France in a meeting with Dr Wan Azizah at a hotel here.
“The members of Parliament said they have gone to Malaysia and felt that Malaysia has a good environment and admitted that our palm oil has received negative publicity.
“They themselves have gone to Malaysia and saw for themselves and they knew the negative campaign is baseless and admitted that Malaysian palm oil industry is not badly practised as claimed,” she told Bernama and RTM here today.
Dr Wan Azizah is currently on a four-day visit to France starting on Sunday with the agenda to chair to the Management of Social Transformation (MOST) Bureau under the United Nations Education and Culture Organisation (UNESCO) and the 14th Session of the Intergovernmental Council for MOST.
MOST is a scientific programme of UNESCO on social transformation.
Dr Wan Azizah said, in the meeting, the French MPs and politicians were also shocked when informed that Malaysia still has more than 53 per cent forest area.
“Through the negative campaign on Malaysian palm oil, they were told the forest of Malaysia has reduced when we still more 53 per cent forest cover. I also told that they didn’t know that our wild life such as Malayan tiger and orang hutan are protected,” she said.
Two of the French MPs present in the meeting with Dr Wan Azizah were LaREM party member, Anne Genetet and UDI party member Meyer Habib. They were joined by three other political leaders.
The national palm oil industry has been facing wide criticism in the past few years for forest clearing which affected the environment.
The EU Parliament had before this, approved a resolution to boycott the consumption of palm oil produced through unsustainable means by 2030. – Bernama
